so Kropotkin, where have you been?
Retail and labor day! I needn’t say more…
So when last seen, I was talking about how the “Enlightenment”
was stalled by the Romantic Era…Whereas the “Enlightenment”
was all about working out our superstitions, biases, prejudice,
and habits…We are born and instantly, the process of indoctrinations
begin…
There is a god, America is exceptional, White is right, the Jews control the world,
all are forms of childhood indoctrinations…we are “educated” with a vast series
of “TRUTHS” that aren’t… but the society/state, feel’s we need… if you hold to
the “America exceptionalism” you have been brainwashed…or said another way,
“educated”
The “enlightenment project” is about seeking these indoctrinations, all of them,
and engaging in some sort of process that weeds out the “false and dangerous”
indoctrinations…in other words, examine our various childhood indoctrinations
in the light of day and ascertain if these actually our “beliefs” and “values”
or are they just things we have been indoctrinated/brainwashed into believing…
the vast majority of beliefs we hold to be true, are just indoctrinations of
childhood… our “education” as it were…
if you hold to American nationalism, why? Or if you hold to “Jewish domination”
why that belief? Why not another belief?
but to be honest, an honest examination of our values and beliefs is hard work,
is in many way, a terrifying experience… think of the old Zen statement…
before enlightenment the mountains are solid, the sea’s calm, the rivers flow down their banks
during “enlightenment” the mountains dance, the sea is in a frenzy and the river
has overflown its banks
and after enlightenment, the mountain is solid, the sea is calm and the river flows
in its bank once more…
People are afraid of that time period of an engagement with our values and beliefs…
it causes doubts and fears and this unknown, is admittedly scary… very, very scary…
people don’t like to lose control… they will hold on to their prejudices and
superstitions long after they serve any value just to avoid that void of having
no values to support their lives…as Nietzsche said,
“People think it strength to hold onto their convictions,
rather it is strength to attack one’s convictions”
most people would rather hold onto their convictions because
they are scared of what might happen if they were to actual
attack their convictions/values…
an example, of which many exists here is UR and Observe…
they hold onto their convictions because they don’t have the courage
for an attack upon their convictions… because what would happen if
they were to realize/understand that their beliefs and values, were in
fact, more in line with “Liberal” values and beliefs?
I hold that both of them would have a nervous breakdown if their values/
beliefs were discounted, devalued, proven wrong…their values/beliefs
have become part of how they think of themselves… it has become
part of who they are… how lost would they be if they didn’t have this,
crutch to lean upon? and before they start yipping about me, as I have
stated before, that I have changed my political beliefs three times
and my philosophical beliefs several times…can they say that their beliefs/values
have changed in any way, shape or form? no, they cannot…
for them, it is better to hold onto values/beliefs even if those values/beliefs
are wrong, then it is to have an engagement with values/beliefs that are true/
right because of the loss of control that arises when we hold an reevaluation of
values that challenges the values and beliefs we currently hold…
the need to challenge and attack our current prejudices/superstitions/
biases/ and habits, is greater today then it was during the actual
“Enlightenment period” we are full of prejudices and superstitions
that we must engage with to discover what we truly hold to be true…
“America is number one”
is a prejudice and superstition that we must attack to see if it is in fact true,
(it isn’t) but we must reevaluate in order to come to a closer understanding of
reality/the truth…
is the “truth” that “America is number one” a honest evaluation of reality or. or
is it a useful value that makes us feel better about ourselves?
and the question if “America is number one” comes from what standard
we might use to determine that… is our “number one” ranking come from
military spending? then we might conclude that we are indeed “number one”
but that leaves out the question that can be asked, is “military spending”
really a value that makes us “number one?” what “criteria” or standard are
we to use to justify our claim of being “Number one?”
if we were to use another “criteria” or “standard” to use, to understand
if we are “number one” then perhaps we aren’t actually “number one”
so, if we were to use perhaps childhood mortality rate as a criteria
for understanding if we are “number one”, then no, we are not “number one”
for example, Canada has a lower childhood mortality as does Saudi Arabia,
as does Norway…so, we cannot use a standard of childhood mortality rate
to determine if we are “number one”…so what criteria or standard would
you use to determine that America is indeed, “number one?”
and even the standard used is determined by one’s childhood indoctrinations
and “education”…
so we use our already existing bias and superstitions to determine what
standard we use to justify our existing bias and superstitions…
and we reject any standards that doesn’t meet our current/existing bias
and superstitions… in other words, if proof is offered that denies our
current bias and superstitions, it is rejected as “false news” or “fake news”
so anything that doesn’t confirm our current bias and superstitions/prejudice,
it is rejected outright… the only acceptable “evidence” is the evidence that
confirms our already existing bias and superstitions… this is how the right/
conservatives “confirm” their beliefs… only if the evidence confirms their
already existing bias and superstitions, is it accepted…
hence their attack upon reality and the truth… because the reality/truth
is that the right/conservatives have a false/bias/prejudice understanding
of the universe… hence they can believe that IQ45 won the last election…
(spoiler alert… he didn’t) because any information that doesn’t confirm their
already held bias/superstition/ prejudice is rejected…as “fake news”
so the question becomes, how important does it become, to engage with
a reevaluation of values? very important… we have 40% of the
American population holding onto and acting upon values and beliefs that
are simply superstitions/prejudice/ bias… and because their values/
beliefs begin by being wrong, they cannot possible make the journey from
animal to animal/human to becoming fully human…
any journey that has the wrong starting place cannot finish up in the correct/right
ending place…
so the process by which we find our path to becoming “enlighten” begins with
the understanding that we must engage in a reevaluation of values… to remove
the current indoctrinations of country/god/values… to come closer to the truth
even at the cost of our own comfort… to seek enlightenment requires one to
become uncomfortable… to be where the mountains no longer hold firm
and where the seas are unsettled and the river overruns its banks
to achieve enlightenment is a bitter and difficult task that can cause one
to challenged everything they hold to be true… one has to become honest
and truthful regardless of what might happen… and few have the courage to
make such an engagement…
Kropotkin